The present invention relates to apparatus for bungy jumping.
The recreational activity of bungy jumping is well-known:xe2x80x94a jumper is secured by a harness or by an ankle tether to one end of a bungy, the other end of which is secured to a jumping platform or other strong point. The original bungys were vines, but modern bungys are heavy multiple strand elastic cords or elastic straps.
Bungy jumping usually takes place from bridges or from purpose built jumping platforms which extend outwards from one side of a natural or man made cavity such as a river gorge or a railway or road cutting. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cjump cavityxe2x80x9d means any natural or man-made cavity of suitable dimensions (both of height and width) for bungy jumping.
Bridges and jumping platforms of necessity are permanent fixtures and thus limit the locations where bungy jumping is possible. It is also known to carry out bungy jumps from helicopters. Whilst this can be done at any location, the high cost of positioning helicopters is a limiting factor, and also the accident risk with jumping from a helicopter is higher than with conventional bungy jumping.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for bungy jumping which can be installed and dismantled relatively easily and which therefore may be used at a much wider range of different locations, whilst providing bungy jumping facilities in the same price range and with similar safety factors to conventional bungy jumping from bridges or fixed jumping platforms.
The present invention makes it possible to utilize for bungy jumping a very wide range of different jump cavities e.g. natural cavities such as river gorges or valleys between hills, man-made cavities such as railway cuttings or spaces between adjacent high buildings, or cavities which are part natural and part man-made. The jump cavities usually would be outdoors, but could be indoors e.g. in the interior of a large building. It also would be possible to create a jump cavity between and below two tethered balloons.
The present invention provides bungy jumping apparatus, said apparatus including: one or more cables, said cables being mutually substantially parallel if two or more cables are present; means for securing the or each of said cables above a jump cavity (as hereinbefore defined) such that one cable or two or more cables in combination extends across said cavity; a jumping platform supported upon at least one of said cables; said jumping platform being securable in a predetermined position on said cable; at least one bungy securable to said jumping platform; and transporting means for transporting jumpers from adjacent the edge of the jump cavity to a selected position along the or each said cable.
The edges of the jump cavity may be level with each other in a horizontal plane, but need not be:xe2x80x94one edge may be higher than the other.
The jumping platform may be fixed on the cable or may be mobile; if the jumping platform is mobile, it may also be used as the means for transporting jumpers to said selected position. If the jumping platform is fixed in position on the cable, a separate transporting means is used to ferry jumpers along the cable out to the jumping platform. This separate transporting means preferably is a gondola, but may be for example, a walkway supported from the cable, or a boson""s chair or a flying fox. More than one transporting means may be usedxe2x80x94jumpers may be transported to the jumping platform from each side of the jump cavity.
The transporting means may be supported on the primary cable (i.e. the same cable as the jumping platform), and may be independently powered to move along that cable. Preferably, the transporting means is moved by a second, drive cable in the form of an endless loop. The drive cable may extend right across the jump cavity or may extend from one side of the jump cavity to a point part way along the primary cable, at or beyond the position of the jumping platform.
As used herein, the terms xe2x80x98primary cablexe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98drive cablexe2x80x99, although used in the singular, also include multiple parallel primary cables and multiple parallel drive cables, respectively.
Preferably, the drive cable is driven in known manner by a driving bull wheel mounted adjacent one side of the jump cavity. At the other end of the drive cable run, the drive cable passes around a second, non-driven, bull wheel. If the drive cable extends right across the jump cavity, the second bull wheel is mounted at the other side of the jump cavity to the driving bull wheel. If the drive cable extends only to a point part way along the primary cable, the second bull wheel is supported from the primary cable, and may be counter weighted by a pendulum counter weight for stability. Alternatively, the primary cable may be omitted altogether and the second bull wheel supported by a further cable extending from said other side of the jump cavity to the second bull wheel.
In another embodiment, the transporting means is supported upon the drive cable, and may be used in combination with a fixed jumping platform mounted upon the primary cable or, the transporting means may be used also as a jumping platform. A counterweight to the transporting means also may be mounted on the drive cable, in opposition to the transport means. Most preferably, two transporting means are used, mounted upon the drive cable and spaced apart on the drive cable so that both may be used alternately as jumping platforms:xe2x80x94the first transporting means is moved adjacent the edge of the jump cavity and loaded with jumpers and then moved over the jump cavity for the jumpers to jump, whilst the second transporting means is moved adjacent the edge of the jump cavity to be loaded with jumpers. If the drive cable extends right across the jump cavity and two transporting means are used, then it would be possible to load one transporting means at one edge of the jump cavity and the other transporting means at the other edge of the jump cavity.